Selahattin Demirtaş, leader of the HDP party which entered parliament in the recent election depriving President Erdoğan's AK party of a majority, has pointed the finger at 'people within the state an
ADVERTISEMENTThe leader of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish opposition has accused figures within the establishment of complicity in recent pre-election violence.
Selahattin Demirtaş was visiting the southeastern province of Diyarbakir, where three people were killed in bomb attacks at an HDP party rally on June 5.
He had previously claimed that militants from the self-proclaimed Islamic State group were responsible, saying he was just 30 metres away from the scene of one of the explosions.
“Nobody can travel here from Syria and blow up two bombs at a rally where I was scheduled to speak, without being supported by the State,” HDP leader Selahattin Demirtaş said. “Their supporters within the state and the government (who are associated with the attacks) should be found.”
The HDP won seats at the recent election, depriving President Erdoğan’s AK party of a majority.
Demirtaş opposes joining an AK-led coalition, and has called the president a ‘truck driver’ out of control.
The Kurdish leader has also warned that forces linked to ISIL are waiting for orders to carry out more attacks across Turkey, intent on provoking chaos.
The pre-election attack on the rally was followed by more violence on Tuesday, two days after the election, when four people were killed after an Islamic aid group leader was murdered.
The following day the HDP party accused the government of doing nothing to stop violence that threatened to push Turkey into ‘civil war’.
Earlier this week Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called for a new government to be formed quickly, saying the election result should be respected.